“No political decision”
Judgment against Le Pen: French judiciary reacts to criticism
Updated on April 1st, 2025 – 10:54 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
After the judgment against Le Pen, the right harsh criticism of the French judiciary. Now the country’s highest public prosecutor has spoken out.
One of the highest judicial officers from France has defended the conviction of the French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen for non-selectability. “It is not a political decision, but a legal decision that was made by three independent judges,” said the public prosecutor of the Court Court, Rémy Heitz, the broadcaster RTL on Tuesday. “The verdict fell at the end of a just process, after a two -month negotiation and years of investigation,” he added.
The judges had applied the law and imposed legal punishments, he emphasized. Heitz condemned the personal hostility to the judges entrusted with the case. He was “shocked” that the presiding judge had to be put under police protection. According to information from judicial circles, a police patrol is currently guarding her house after receiving threats.
The question of the appellate must decide whether an appeal process could take place in good time before the presidential election. In theory, however, this is possible, said Heitz. Le Pen had announced that it was appealed. The ban to run remains anyway. At the moment, it seems unlikely that an appeal process will end in good time and mitigates the punishment in such a way that it can still compete in the 2027 presidential election.
Jordan Bardella, party leader of Le Pens Rassemblede National (marginal), had called for nationwide protests after the verdict. The party also started a petition against the judgment – and calls it a “dictatorship of the judges”.
According to the judgment of a Paris court, Le Pen may not compete in elections for five years because of the embezzlement of EU funds. In addition, she was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, two are to be compensated for with a booth. In addition, a fine of 100,000 euros was imposed. The court saw it as proven that the RN systematically used the salaries of its EU parliamentary assistants to renovate the dilapidated partyinance.
